Anti-roping turning loop

ABSTRACT

An anti-roping turning loop is provided for a vehicle seatbelt. The turning loop defines a guide slot which is provided with anti-roping projections which prevent twisting of the seatbelt web.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to seatbelt assemblies, and moreparticularly to an anti-roping turning loop for a seatbelt which issupported on a pillar or the like of a car body and slidably guides thewebbing of a seatbelt in a longitudinal direction.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A seatbelt unit is provided on a seat of a vehicle to restrain theoccupants of a vehicle in an emergency such as a vehicle collision. Someseatbelts are provided with a turning loop, which is supported on apillar of a car body and slidably guides the webbing of the seatbelt ina longitudinal direction. The turning loop helps to properly orient theseatbelt with respect to the vehicle passenger. If the webbing istwisted, the webbing is not only incorrectly adapted to the occupant,but smooth movement of the webbing is also hindered. Therefore, it isdesirable to keep the webbing from becoming twisted. In prior designswhich are utilized to prevent twisting of the seatbelt webbing, otherproblems such as binding or tearing of the lateral portion of thewebbing may occur. The object of the present invention is to provide aturning loop for a seatbelt, in which the webbing is not twisted and thebinding or tearing of the lateral portion of the webbing can beprevented.

These and other objects of the present invention are obtained byproviding a turning loop for a seatbelt which is adapted to be mountedon a car body and which includes a guide portion defining a guide slotfor receiving a seatbelt therethrough. The guide slot defines a firstsurface which is adapted to be slidably engaged by the seatbelt and asecond surface disposed opposite to and spaced from the first surface.The guide slot terminates at opposite ends into a loop-shaped escapeportion and includes a pair of anti-looping projections extending fromopposite ends of the second surface adjacent to the loop-shaped escapeportions. A distance between the anti-looping projection and the firstsurface is less than twice a thickness of a seatbelt.

Further areas of applicability of the present invention will becomeapparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It shouldbe understood however that the detailed description and specificexamples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, areintended for purposes of illustration only, since various changes andmodifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from thedetailed description and the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is front view of the turning loop according to the principles ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the turning loop according to the principles ofthe present invention;

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the turning loop according to the principles ofthe present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a front view of the turning loop according to the presentinvention illustrating how the seatbelt web is prevented from twistingby the anti-roping projections according to the principles of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference to FIGS. 1-4, the turning loop 10 of the presentinvention will now be described. The turning loop 10 includes a mountingportion 12 having a mounting hole 14 disposed therethrough for mountingthe turning loop 10 to a pillar or the like of a car body, as is knownin the art. The turning loop 10 includes a guide portion 16 whichdefines a guide slot 18 for receiving a web W of a seatbelt. The guideslot 18 is defined by a first surface portion 20 which is designed to becontinuously engaged by the seatbelt web W. A second surface 22 isprovided opposite to the first surface 20 and along with the firstsurface 20 defines the guide slot 18. A pair of loop-shaped escapeportions 24 are provided on opposite ends of the guide slot 18. Theloop-shaped escape portions 24 form a continual curve at each end of thefirst surface 20. The second surface 22 which is disposed opposite tothe first surface 20 is provided with a pair of anti-roping projections28 which are disposed adjacent to the escape portions 24. Theanti-roping projections 28 are each provided with a squared edge 30 onthe outboard side of the anti-roping projections 28 adjacent to theescape portions 24. The width of the guide slot 18 at the locationbetween the anti-roping projections 28 and the first surface 20 is lessthan two times a webbing thickness.

The turning loop 10 is preferably made of an engineering plasticmaterial which is reinforced with metal insert molded in the turningloop 10. As seen in FIG. 2, the first and second surfaces 20, 22 arerounded to provide a smooth surface for guiding the seatbelt web W.

As shown in FIG. 4, a seatbelt web W is capable of being received withinthe loop-shaped escape portion 24, but as the lateral edge wraps fullyaround the loop-shaped escape portion 24, the squared edge 30 of theanti-roping projections 28 prevent the lateral edge of the seatbelt webW from doubling over upon itself. Thus, the problems with twisting orbinding of the seatbelt web W are prevented. Furthermore, as theseatbelt web material loops around the loop-shaped escape portion 24,there are no sharp edges for the lateral edges of the webbing materialto catch on in order to damage the webbing material. It has been foundthat it is desirable to have a wider gap in the guide slot 18 in thecentral location of the guide slot between the anti-roping projections28, in order to ensure that the travel of the seatbelt web through theturning loop 10 is not hindered.

The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same maybe varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as adeparture from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all suchmodifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intendedto be included within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A turning loop for a seat belt, said turning loopadapted to be mounted on a car body, said turning loop comprising: aguide portion defining a guide slot for receiving a seat belttherethrough, said guide slot being defined by a first surface which isadapted to be slidably engaged by the seat belt and a second surfacedisposed opposite to and spaced from said first surface, said slotterminating at opposite ends into a loop shaped escape portion andhaving a pair of anti-roping projections extending from opposite ends ofsaid second surface adjacent to said loop shaped escape portions,wherein a distance between said anti-roping projections and said firstsurface is greater than a thickness of the seatbelt and less than twicea thickness of the seatbelt, said anti-roping projections having asquare edge-surface on an outboard side adjacent to said escapeportions, said guide slot having a greater distance between said firstsurface and said second surface than the distance between saidanti-roping projections and said first surface.